Lawmakers act to protect existing coal-fired power plants from EPA

Even Kentucky's Democrats recognize that if the EPA implements the same heavy-handed emission standards on existing coal-fired power plants that it already has forced on proposed new operations, our state's economy will suffer greatly.

The House Committee on Natural Resources and the Environment passed a bill without opposition today that orders the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet to sets "reasonable" and "flexible" standards for existing coal-fired power plants that don't force existing plants to switch to other fuels or to new, unproven and costly carbon-capture-and-storage technologies.

"I think we all know that coal is the most affordable, reliable, available fuel source we have," said committee chairman Jim Gooch, D-Providence. "We're not just gonna roll over and play dead."

Another way conservative House Democrats could push back against the EPA would be to pass the Bluegrass Institute's Intrastate Coal and Use Act, a model bill unanimously approved by the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Such legislation would limit the EPA's ability to enforce environmental regulations only to coal that leaves Kentucky.

The bill embeds the Constitution's Ninth and Tenth amendments to prohibit the ability of the EPA to enforce environmental regulations on the 25 percent of Kentucky-produced coal that never leaves the commonwealth.